Acoutsina: Difference between revisions
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==Captivity== |
==Captivity== |
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One month after her capture, the Courtemanche died and his stepson, Brouague, took over the commandant position for the fort. Acoutsina was placed under the care of Courtemanche's wife and taught the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Eskimo language]] to Brouague. Information about Acoutsina is found in letters written by Brouague. He wrote that Acoutsina desired to return to her family in 1718.<ref name="dcb" /> |
Acoutsina was kept at the fort as deterrence against Indigenous attacks.<ref name="Loewan">{{Cite journal |last=Loewen |first=Brad |date=2017 |title=The World of Capitena Ioannis: Basques and Inuit in the Seventeenth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44875657 |journal=Canadian Journal of Archaeology / Journal Canadien d'Archéologie |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=173–211 |issn=0705-2006}}</ref> One month after her capture, the Courtemanche died and his stepson, Brouague, took over the commandant position for the fort. Acoutsina was placed under the care of Courtemanche's wife and taught the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Eskimo language]] to Brouague.<ref name="dcb" /> She was also tasked with domestic work.<ref name="Loewan" /> Information about Acoutsina is found in letters written by Brouague. He wrote that Acoutsina desired to return to her family in 1718.<ref name="dcb" /> |
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While living in the port Acoutsina learned some French and described Eskimo traditions, mythology, and legends. She also described how Europeans integrated into the Eskimo group, including a shipwrecked sailor that the Eskimos called "good old Nicolas".<ref name="dcb" /> |
While living in the port Acoutsina learned some French and described Eskimo traditions, mythology, and legends. She also described how Europeans integrated into the Eskimo group, including a shipwrecked sailor that the Eskimos called "good old Nicolas".<ref name="dcb" /> |
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==Return to Eskimo people== |
==Return to Eskimo people== |
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Revision as of 01:44, 24 May 2022
Acoutsina (c. 1697 – after 1719), the daughter of Chief Ouibignaro, was an Inuk from Labrador who was enslaved by Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche.[1] She taught François Martel de Brouague, his stepson and a French colonist and commandant of the coast of Labrador, the language of her people.[1] The name "Acoutsina" is believed to be a French derivation of an Inuit term, akutsiarq, meaning the beautiful apron.
Heritage and family
It is difficult to ascertain the heritage of Acoutsina due to the limited information that exists from this area at this period in history. The French adopted the term "Eskimo" from the indigenous people in North America, but their use of the word referred to several Nordic Amerindian groups in the area, including the Naskapi and the Beothuk, who are not part of the Eskimo group. Jacques Rousseau, a professor of ethnobiology, asserts that Acoutsina was part of the Eskimo people and not Naskapi or Beothuk, due to the translation of her name from the Eskimo language, her instruction of the Eskimo language to children and the Eskimo cultural practices that she is recorded to have demonstrated.[1]
Acoutsina's father was Ouibignaro, a chief of the Inuk people. She described Eskimo customs and legends to the Europeans.[1]
Capture
French ports on the Strait of Belle Isle were established by the early 18th century and they hoped to develop positive relationships with the local indigenous communities to enhance the fur trade. The commandant at the Baie de Phélypeaux, Augustin Le Gardeur de Courtemanche, met with the Eskimos in the fall of 1716 and convinced them to return the following spring to trade furs. The Eskimos returned the following May and camped near the fort. Courtemanche tried to extort the indigenous group, threatening to shoot at them, so the Eskimos retreated to their boats and shot arrows at the French. The French grabbed a boat and pulled four people from the boat, including Acoutsina.[1]
Captivity
Acoutsina was kept at the fort as deterrence against Indigenous attacks.[2] One month after her capture, the Courtemanche died and his stepson, Brouague, took over the commandant position for the fort. Acoutsina was placed under the care of Courtemanche's wife and taught the Eskimo language to Brouague.[1] She was also tasked with domestic work.[2] Information about Acoutsina is found in letters written by Brouague. He wrote that Acoutsina desired to return to her family in 1718.[1]
While living in the port Acoutsina learned some French and described Eskimo traditions, mythology, and legends. She also described how Europeans integrated into the Eskimo group, including a shipwrecked sailor that the Eskimos called "good old Nicolas".[1]
Return to Eskimo people
In September 1719, the Eskimos came to Île aux Bois. Brouague went to meet with the Eskimos and brought Acoutsina with him. After the meeting, Ouibignaro, who was Acoutsina's father, and 30 Eskimos travelled with Brouague and Acoutsina back to the fort to attend a feast. In the fort, Ouibignaro asked for Acoutsina and the other girl who was captured with Acoutsina to be returned to the Eskimo people; Brouague obliged.[1]
Another chief among the Eskimo people, Camerlique, declared that Acoutsina the French should be killed.[3] Acoutsina was distressed over this declaration and she was reassured that this would not happen. Instead, the Eskimos promised not to stop burning the French fishermen's ships. The fort's chaplain gave Acoutsina a book so that she could demonstrate her knowledge of the French language to her people. She departed with the indigenous people, and there are no further records of her.[1]
Legacy
After leaving, Acoutsina and the Eskimos did not return to the French fort and continued to destroy French boats.[1]
Records of Acoutsina's statements have allowed historians to analyse the diplomatic relationship between the Eskimo people and Europeans in the sixteenth century.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rousseau, Jacques (1979) [1969]. "Acoutsina". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ a b Loewen, Brad (2017). "The World of Capitena Ioannis: Basques and Inuit in the Seventeenth Century". Canadian Journal of Archaeology / Journal Canadien d'Archéologie. 41 (2): 173–211. ISSN 0705-2006.
- ^ Mitchell, Greg; Marguirault, Ihintza (2018). "The Onomastics of Inuit/Iberian Names in Southern Labrador in the Historic Past". Newfoundland & Labrador Studies. 33 (1): 83–112. ISSN 1719-1726.
Further reading
- Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia (1999). "Passer les frontières : Acoutsina l'interprète et Marguerite la convertie". Il Polo. 25–26 (Alla ricerca della quadratura del Circolo Polare : Testimonianze e studi in onore di Jean Malaurie (Giulia Bogliolo Bruna scient. ed.)): 137–144.
- Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia (1999). Passer les frontières: les Inuit du Labrador (fin du XVIème - première moitié du XVIIIème) (Passar as fronteiras, II Colóquio Internacional sobre Mediadores Culturais, Séculos XV a XVIII, Rui Manuel Loureiro and Serge Gruzinski ed.). Lagos: Centro de Estudos Gil Eanes. pp. 81–110.